Having recently refurbished a Meade 10" Schimdt newtonian
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=132487
I did something I haven't done for a while: visual observation.
It was a reasonably clear and still night last night, so I manually swung the scope to a couple of my favourite targets, m42 and the jewel box. Now I know why people lust after big dobs, the views were stunning, even from my light polluted backyard.
Thin wisps of m42 were clearly shown, as were parts of the running man (I matched the scope with a 13mm vixen LWV). The four stars in trapezium was clearly shown. What a sight.
The jewel box was just as good. Tight clustering of beautiful points of light, with different colours of the jewels showing their glory.
Now, maybe I should hook up the camera next....
Bo